Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Short Stories & Such: Ghost of Your Grandmother

Martin Lastrapes said in a recent
Writer’s Workshop that “any story worth telling has a character worth caring
about.”

If the writer develops a
character like this, then the reader is engaged- connects to the story, and
they care because the character becomes real. Believable as a human is with both
good and bad traits.

Lastrapes also said that writers
leave their “fingerprints”when building characters, molding characters as if
they were clay. As you progress to form the clay into an object, the impression
of your fingers remain until you smooth out the surface and it becomes its own
entity.

For
the following writing prompt about the Ghost
of Your Grandmother, I found some of those “fingerprints” Lastrapes
discussed in his workshop. If you read
it, you will see that I tend to have characters who ask a lot of questions,
which is something I tend to do.Ghost of Your Grandmother

My
grandmother died two days ago, but I didn’t feel like the loss was great.
Except, I keep having these recurring nightmares. Now I’m dealing with a bout
of insomnia because they were the same dream. I just kept staring into the
ceiling for affirmation that sleep would come.

Suddenly,
I see a ghost who claimed to be my grandmother's spirit. I didn't believe it.
Why would my grandmother come back? She waved her arms in the air like she
always did when she witnessed me to be totally absurd. She began to order me to
take care of something she wasn’t able to before she passed away. If I did it,
she would leave me alone and won't haunt me forever. Good news, right?

I
wasn't really close to her and wasn't intending to spend the rest of my nights
talking to her. So, I asked what that big favor was. And do you know what she
wanted me to take care of? She wanted me to go down to the drugstore and tell
the pharmacist holding some medication for her to cancel the order!!

About Me

Maria A. Arana is a poet and writer in the making.
This blog provides the opportunity to share information of interest. There will fluidly be myriad topics posted. The goal is to have a new post every week. There may be more or none.
Thoughts rain down on us into words. Sometimes, we are not actually sure whether the voices will come down as drizzle, hale, or storm, but they are there, waiting to shower us into their mist.

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